Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Vintage Agudath Israel of America

You can read an entire book for children, published by the Agudah in 1948, right here. The book is called The Jewish Face; a Portrait Gallery selected by Miriam L. Elias (text, presumably, by R. Joseph Elias). Title page with more info below.It is, of course, important not to read too much into the selected list, but nevertheless it is interesting to see which rabbis throughout medieval and modern history were selected to fulfill a didactic purpose in 1948. It is possible that the list was influenced by who had available depictions (eg, it is difficult otherwise to see why R. Itzele Peterburger is here but not R. Yisroel Salanter). No surprises, sorry. I am sorry that credits for the images are not given, but what can you do.

How R. Samson Rafael Hirsch is written up:A photo of R. Elchonon Wasserman I'd never seen before:And the index: